Hi Will, the two species you mention can look superficially similar in pale individuals - but notice for this specimen that the markings between the two crosslines consist of a blackish 'eyebrow' line and a blackish dot within a yellow semi-triangular area, typical of O. nubilalis (these markings in S. verticalis do not stand out in the same way, usually consisting of slightly darker rounded marks), as is the strongly curved outer zig-zag line (more of a gentle curve in S. verticalis).
I agree with John, who has explained the differences much better than I ever could! Ostrinia nubilalis is becoming very common locally and I'm noticing more variation amongst both males and females. While adding a photo of a very dark male to the Atlas website just now I noticed that we didn't have a female illustrated (Will's example is a female and they look quite different to the males). I've remedied that temporarily with the only image I had to hand, from Portugal. Hopefully a decent image of a local female will be forthcoming soon...
Hi Will, the two species you mention can look superficially similar in pale individuals - but notice for this specimen that the markings between the two crosslines consist of a blackish 'eyebrow' line and a blackish dot within a yellow semi-triangular area, typical of O. nubilalis (these markings in S. verticalis do not stand out in the same way, usually consisting of slightly darker rounded marks), as is the strongly curved outer zig-zag line (more of a gentle curve in S. verticalis).
ReplyDeleteI agree with John, who has explained the differences much better than I ever could! Ostrinia nubilalis is becoming very common locally and I'm noticing more variation amongst both males and females. While adding a photo of a very dark male to the Atlas website just now I noticed that we didn't have a female illustrated (Will's example is a female and they look quite different to the males). I've remedied that temporarily with the only image I had to hand, from Portugal. Hopefully a decent image of a local female will be forthcoming soon...
ReplyDeleteThank You Both
ReplyDeleteThis is really helpful